Police investigators stand outside a school bus after a child was shot early Tuesday in Homestead, Fla. / Gaston De Cardenas, AP

by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

MIAMI (AP) - The mother of a 13-year-old south Florida girl who was fatally shot while riding a school bus with her younger sister says the child was "fun-loving, helpful, a happy girl," according to a statement released by the family.

A 15-year-old boy was in juvenile detention Wednesday, charged with manslaughter after police say he took a gun out of a backpack and showed it to other students during the ride to school on Tuesday. Investigators say he fired it once in an apparent accident, striking Lourdes Guzman.

The girl, known as Jina to her family and friends and identified as Lourdes Guzman-DeJesus on her Facebook page, died later at a Miami hospital.

"Feels like just yesterday I saw her running around in her Pamper, dancing and modeling for the camera," said the girl's mother, who identifies herself on Facebook as Ady DeJesus, in the statement. "Times and moments spent with Jina are memories I will cherish and keep in my heart forever."

The boy was also charged with carrying a concealed weapon. He waived his right to appear in court Wednesday morning and will remain in a juvenile detention center. He is not being identified by The Associated Press because of his age.

Messages left with juvenile division officials and the alleged shooter's mother were not immediately returned on Wednesday.

Police have not released additional information about the shooting. Miami-Dade Police spokeswoman Aida Fina-Milan said that based on the charges "it appears to have been an accident."

Eight other children, including Guzman's 7-year-old sister, were on the bus but were not harmed. Authorities took the children and the bus driver to a police station to be interviewed.

The teen suspect attended Somerset Academy, said Lynn Norman-Teck, a spokeswoman for the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools.

"The principal walked into every classroom to gauge their energy," she said, adding that teachers were notified that all three schools made grief counselors available to students. "But it was business as usual. The goal is to remain on a regular schedule as possible," she said.

Parents of students at the charter schools contract the private school bus to transport students. Phone messages left with a number listed on the side of the bus where the shooting happened were not returned.

The school bus operated by Yelimar & Portieles was not equipped with video surveillance equipment.

There are no records of the company with the state's Division of Corporations or the Better Business Bureau.

Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based consulting firm, said one area of school bus safety that is weak in schools across the nation is driver training on behavior management and crisis intervention.

"The drivers have one of the toughest jobs in education and they do it with the least amount of support," Trump said.

The vast majority of bus drivers do not receive training on building relationships with students and averting a crisis, he said.

"In general across the country they are grossly undertrained and under-supported in these areas," he said. "It's the exception not the norm to see that training in place."

The Florida Department of Education has state requirements to become a school bus driver, including a criminal background check, drug screening and 40 hours of pre-service training. There is no requirement specified on training for managing students who misbehave or act violently on a bus.

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Associated Press writer Christine Armario contributed to this report.

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